Electric, plug-in, battery, full, and mild hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), have a powertrain that includes, among other components, an internal combustion engine (CE), electric machines or motor/generators (EMs), batteries and other energy storage devices, and multiple drive axles that are coupled with one or more controllers, and which include the EMs to each be coupled with a single one of the drive axles. Such batteries may be configured with either high power or high energy capabilities wherein the high power variation enables high power discharge for short times and distances, and the high energy capabilities enables discharge over longer times and distances.
Typically, the high power capabilities are utilized for short duration, short distance high torque demands, and such batteries are rapidly recharged to sustain a maximum capacity, to ensure availability for each high torque demand. In contrast, such high energy batteries enable relatively longer duration discharge over relatively longer distances. Full HEVs (FHEVs) most often include such high power, short duration/distance, low energy batteries operating only in charge sustaining modes, while other types of HEVs, such as plugin HEVs or PHEVs, usually and/or may include the higher energy, longer duration batteries operating in charge depletion modes, which enable utilization over longer distances. Such FHEVs are configured to be utilized in electric only modes of operation for short periods of time, at slow vehicle speeds, and for vehicle accelerations that are lower than that for other types of batteries. However, mild HEV or mHEV batteries are typically configured with lower operating voltages that may range about 48 volts or so, and are typically utilized to power vehicle accessories during vehicle deceleration and stop conditions, and for relatively short periods of time.
In other arrangements for plug-in HEVs (PHEVs), such batteries may be utilized in both charge sustain and depletion modes in response to various torque demands, and have utilization ranges that are typically shorter than that for BEV batteries. In any such configurations, improvements are needed to enable selective recharging of such batteries with regenerative braking energy and other power sources, and selective use of such batteries to power one or more electric machines coupled to respective axles in response to torque power demands and various HEV operational modes.